Best apps for spring cleaning

Tech

Mar 6, 2018

Best apps for spring cleaning

WORDS BY : BENJI KARMIS

Best Apps for Spring Cleaning

Get your sh*t together...

With spring’s warm breeze just around the corner, it’s about time to start rotating your seasonal winter jackets with your jean cut offs, and while you’re at it, maybe your room could use a makeover as well. Thankfully, there’s a handful of apps out there that can help you make your home look and feel just a bit fresher.

Cleanliness is close to holiness, apparently.

Start off with a checklist

Making a checklist is a great start, but only writing it down or typing it in a note on your phone usually isn’t motivating enough. Apps like the Clean My House for Android and Spotless: A Simply Cleaner Home for IOS are here to help. Both apps allow tasks to be put into different categories based on their room or convenience and give you a satisfying box to check once you’ve completed it. They can even give you a deadline for each individual or group of tasks and set reminders to do it, keeping your ADHD in line. Get it done!

Purge your closet!

Sell your old stuff

If your room is cluttered with ancient items that you’ve hardly ever used (looking at you, fireman costume from three Halloweens ago), then selling it for money is a pretty solid idea. Apps like Mercari or OfferUp are available on both Android and Apple, which offer a no-frills selling experience. Simply post a couple pictures of your item, write a brief description, and wait for somebody to buy it. Money must be paid up front by the buyer and is locked by the app until the item is received by the buyer so both parties are protected. Conveniently, these apps also offer discounted shipping prices, which give them a leg-up on services like Craigslist that don’t.

Give more than you get.

Do right and donate

Still got enough money from that Christmas bonus? Or maybe you’re just too lazy to sell things (no judgement here). Either way, Giveit is a great option for anybody looking for an easy way to donate. All you need to do is take a picture or video of the items you want to donate, put in a garbage bag, and set it outside your front door. Give Giveit a time, and they will actually pick it up for you, where they will transfer it to charities that can use your items. It couldn’t get any easier with this “black car” service, plus you’re doing something good in the process.

Emily Oberg for Basic Space.

Liven up your living space

The best thing about purging your items is now, you have room for more. Basic Space offers users a first-hand experience to explore ritzy underground designers. The self-dubbed “curated marketplace” is designed to allow a very selective group of sellers (see our Q&A with Pia Arrobio) to essentially re-gift never or very lightly used exclusive items, ranging from Steve Aoki’s limited edition birthday t-shirt ($100) to Oberg’s Gucci Dionysus GG Supreme Mini Bag ($1,200). What better way to start your spring than with a new Gucci bag, anyway?